Ruth Shaw > Quotes

“My mother, more than anyone, knew why I lived such a high-risk life. She gave me the freedom to run.”
― Ruth Shaw, The Bookseller at the End of the World

“Some days I give away more books than I sell, which is one of the delights of being retired and not having the pressure to make money. The joy of giving away the perfect book is far more rewarding than making a sale.”
― Ruth Shaw, The Bookseller at the End of the World

“I remember Dad saying to me, many years later when I was leaving to go join the navy, that life was like playing cards. You’re given a hand, and the way you play that hand may determine the rest of the month, the rest of the year, or the rest of your life. But you don’t have time to plan, because if you hesitate when you’re playing cards, people may guess your next move. His lasting piece of advice was: ‘Whenever you’re in a situation, just think of your life as a pack of cards and imagine how you would play that hand. You can turn a losing hand into a winning hand by the card you play next.”
― Ruth Shaw, The Bookseller at the End of the World

“And so, at the age of 71, I had a small bookshop built on our property by André Bekhuis from Ōtautau.”
― Ruth Shaw, The Bookseller at the End of the World

“She made us pants out of flour-bag material, and we had Sad Cake on Sundays. Suet replaced the butter, making the cake heavy, so it often arrived at the table with a sunken centre. As a treat we would have jam and cream on buttered bread.”
― Ruth Shaw, The Bookseller at the End of the World

“One of the favourite books from the lending library is The Velveteen Rabbit, written by Margery Williams in 1922. Rabbit asks his friend the Skin Horse, ‘What is real?’ ‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ the Skin Horse replies. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’ I have read this book many times and this one sentence reminds me of the times in my life when I really came to understand the meaning of the word real.”
― Ruth Shaw, The Bookseller at the End of the World

“I was 70 when I decided to open these bookshops, as a fun retirement ‘hobby’. I had opened my first bookshop almost 30 years earlier, as part of a yacht charter operation that my husband Lance and I ran called Fiordland Ecology Holidays.”
― Ruth Shaw, The Bookseller at the End of the World

“A buxom woman, Gran wore an apron every day, her hair always up in a tight bun. She was nearly always smiling and full of hugs and cuddles. I loved her immensely. It was Gran who said many times, as she hugged and kissed me on the head, ‘Ruthie, I know you try to be good, but you just aren’t.”
― Ruth Shaw, The Bookseller at the End of the World

“Manapōuri now has around 230 permanent residents, only 1 per cent of the population of the Southland district. We’re at the end of the road and miles from anywhere but we have Two Wee Bookshops — the smallest stand-alone second-hand bookshops in New Zealand.”
― Ruth Shaw, The Bookseller at the End of the World